This invention relates to hood mounting systems for mobile vehicles such as medium-duty, and heavy-duty trucks, and buses. More specifically, the invention involves the insertion of a urethane or rubber liner into the receiving brackets of a forward tilting hood mounting system to remove noise such as knocks, rattles, and squeaks usually associated with hood mounting points.
Owners of mobile vehicles such as medium-duty, and heavy-duty trucks and buses sometimes complain about road noises associated with hood mounting points. The hoods on these type vehicles are generally forward tilting with a rotational connection to a forward portion of the chassis of the vehicle. The rearward engagement points between the hood and the cab or chassis of the vehicle generate road noises such as knocks, rattles, and squeaks. This may be due to relative movement between the hood and the rest of the vehicle during vehicle movement. Tolerance maintenance between the prior art hood mounting components and the vehicle mounting components and the relative hardness at the mounting component interface contribute to this noise generation. What has not been previously suggested is having a hood mounting system in which mounting brackets are lined with urethane or rubber in either a sheet or molded form to act as the interface between hood mounting components and vehicle mounting components.
The hood mounting system of this invention and a mobile vehicle with this system installed satisfy the primary objective of this invention as follows. The hood mounting system includes two lower hood brackets and one upper cowl guide mounted to the cowl or forward portion of the cab of the vehicle. The hood of the mounting system includes a rear support frame that has a center hood guide bracket for engagement to the upper cowl guide upon hood closing. The hood rear support frame also has two hood rear support guides, one each vertical side of the support frame. Each hood rear support guide mates with a lower hood bracket upon hood closing. The lower hood brackets each contain a liner insert that may be made from a rubber or urethane sheet or molded from this material. This liner insert acts as the component interface. Conventional lower hood brackets may be transformed into this component by insertion of a urethane or rubber liner sheet formed to fit the insertion receptacle. The center guide bracket of the hood also has a urethane or rubber liner insert located within its fold receptacle. The guide components may each have urethane insert pad for mating with the urethane or rubber liner of the associated mating components. The insert-pad-to-liner of the associated components provide increased noise reduction and manufacturing play in regards to mating tolerances.